Being a child of the Inland Empire, I fell prey to hometown distraction reading Alex Espinosa's Still Water Saints. Set in the fictional "Agua Mansa" Califas, the town eludes any “ahah!” moment’s recognition. Agua Mansa defies the mystery of place, leaving readers from the area slightly discomfited, grasping for that moment of “I know this place!”

Santana winds blow. The Santa Ana River overflows its banks. Agua Mansa’s off the 10. Lots of towns and hamlets from Mentone to Chino fit. Espinoza tosses out tantalizing clues, triangulating cities that are not Agua Mansa. Characters talk of going over to Perris, Riverside, Berdoo, Fontana, so Agua Mansa is none those places.

Marigold? Bryn Mawr? Loma Linda? Redlands? My vote’s on Colton. Big enough to have large shopping centers, lots of poor gente, a botánica. But this son of the Inland Empire cannot be sure, so let Agua Mansa be anywhere along that rio, a town a lot like where I grew up. I always suspected stories like these were taking place by the sankee or out toward Mentone Beach. Thing is, nostalgic readings tend to find comeuppance.

In Agua Mansa, that comes with hard edges: the immigrant boy lured into sex slavery (don’t worry, there’s no detail); the amateur whore and her son (ditto, save for a bit of titillation to a 12 year old boy); the freaks (tattoos and crystal, use your imagination). I suppose every town has sad cases like these losers. The people, yes the people form the heart of this novel. The hairdresser; the art teacher; the muralist; the innocent; the victimized. Perla:

She roamed the banks of the Santa Ana, among the long green stalks, chanting to the moon, to the gods of Night and Shadow. She rose and stepped onto the river, her footsteps gently rippling the surface. She summoned the spirits of the dead. They whispered their secrets to her, and she scribbled their messages on scraps of paper and in the margins of her phone book: Tell Ramón the locket fell on the floor between the bed and the nightstand. I’m all right. It’s like Disneyland up here, only without rides. I don’t miss my ears because they were too big. She fought the Devil. Every night he came to her, his head crowned with horns, his skin covered in scales. He cursed and called her names. She beat him back with her bare hands and sent him running, his cloven feet tapping against the tile of her kitchen floor. She was a Bruja. A Santa. A Divina. A Medium, Prophet, and Healer. Able to pass through walls and read minds, to pull tumors from ailing bodies, to uncross hexes and spells, to raise the dead, and to stop time. When doctors failed, when priests and praying were not enough, the people of Agua Mansa came to the Botánica Oshún, to

Perla, a healer and spiritual person who draws people to her store for tea, amulets, consejos, warmth. Her stories come together around grand themes, each thematic chapter dedicated to a portrait of a particular boy, girl, mother, couple. Just when the reader suspects a surfeit of characters, here comes a new personaje into the mix. Espinoza’s Random House editor had the good judgment to give the writer space to draw out a diverse community of people whose stories revolve around the viejita who runs that store.

When we meet young Perla, she’s dissatisfied in marriage but unafraid to venture out. She meets a curandero just setting up his tiendita in the storefront business. He mentors her, shares wisdom and books. She takes over the shop. From her front window and the empty lot next door she watches Agua Mansa change, maybe for the better maybe not, but sure enough change. Landscape, society, those things change. But the characters who flit in and out of Perla’s Agua Mansa don’t change, whatever their particulars. All come Perla’s way to receive all the help Perla can give.

Perla aside, Still Water Saints is less about sanctity than everyday gente with extraordinary needs and no miracles. It’s not a grim novel, though. There’s always hope, here, there. When a character from an earlier story comes into another character’s story, they pass unrecognized to one another. Yet, the one needs what the other can provide. So close, yet so far. What does it take to bring them together? Empathy hones irony’s sharp points, adding a delicious tension for readers engaged with the characters.

Readers will find Espinoza’s frequent references to setting--the winds and those place names—give the novel a rich texture and sense of place that brings life to the people on the page. Still Water Saints is one of those puro character novels readers will want to share with friends or book clubs.

La Bloga friend Sergio Troncoso sends along this writer’s call for a volume Troncoso is editing with Sarah Cortez for Arte Público.

Request for SubmissionsThe Lost Border: Essays on how life and culture have been changed by the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border

This new anthology will focus on the unique life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border that has been changed and even lost because of the recent drug violence. This book will feature writers from both sides of the border who explore the culture that has been changed or lost, the lives that have been split in two, and the way of life that has been interrupted, or even eradicated, by the violence along the border.

Some of the questions that might be explored are: What way of life has been lost due to the recent violence? What are the ramifications of this change for culture, politics, families, institutions, the arts, and even individual psyches? Will it be possible to regain what has been truncated? What might the border’s future be? Are there any positive side-effects?

We hope that writers will conjure the past in telling moments and reflect on the forces that have spun out of control to destroy the unique bi-national, bicultural existence of la frontera. Location is a vitally important and intrinsic element of the essays we seek, and each essay should show substantial ties to the border through the essayist’s lived experience. We anticipate that the writing will draw scholars as well as those in the general public who wish to thoughtfully negotiate the border’s current complexities.

The publisher of this project will be Arte Público Press and the anticipated publication date is in 2012.

Please read the submission guidelines and follow them. We look forward to reading your submission. We will contact you by email about acceptance or rejection of your essay.

Submission Guidelines:The deadline is August 1, 2011 postmark, without exceptions. The length of the essay should be 3,000 to 6,000 words; please title your essay. The essay should be unpublished and written in English. All contributors shall be Latina/o.

Each essay should be typed in Times Roman 12-point type with standard manuscript formatting for margins and spacing.

Include your name, snail-mail address, two contact phone numbers, two email addresses, and exact word count in the top left margin of the first page of your manuscript.

We do not accept electronic submissions. Mail two hard copies of the essay and your bio to Sergio Troncoso, 2373 Broadway, Suite 1808, New York, NY 10024. No submissions will be returned; please keep a copy for your records.

Please include a one-paragraph biography summarizing your publishing credits. Include a sentence or two that defines your relationship with the border (e.g. cities or towns lived in, length of residence/familiarity).

If your essay is accepted, we will need an electronic file as a Word document. We will contact you about suggested revisions.

Scholars and Sor Juana interested gente will remember to plan for the Cal State LA conference organized by La Bloga friend Roberto Cantú.

For details, click the title above to navigate to the conference site.

Invitation to Join National Latino Writers Conference 2011

La Bloga friend Carlos Vasquez, Director History and Literary Arts at Alburque's National Hispanic Cultural Center, reminds writers they have time to apply to the May 2011 conference. La Bloga-Tuesday columnist Michael Sedano joins this year's NLWC faculty, presenting a workshop on "Reading Your Stuff Aloud."

foto:NHCC. Rudolfo Anaya conducts workshop.

Three years after it opened its doors to the public, the National Hispanic Cultural Center organized and sponsored the first annual National Latino Writers Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Based on the premise that Latino/Hispanic writers were poorly represented in the output of major publishers in the United States, and even within the ranks of smaller and academic presses, the NHCC sought to create a vehicle by which Hispanic writers could come together and learn the ways of the publishing world. Thus was born the only national writer’s conference dedicated to Latino themes and taught by Latino writers.

Eschewing self-publication as an avenue to disseminate the extraordinary output by Latino writers, the objective was to see that Hispanics learned the procedures and the foibles of getting published by refereed commercial and academic presses. At the same time, realizing that often entry to publishing was first through small independent presses, much attention was given to making those available to writers as well.

foto:NHCC. Martín Espada wins NHCC Literary Award.

By organizing an annual conference, limiting the size of registration, and by providing successful published writers willing to share their knowledge and experience, the NLWC has offered workshops on the following literary genres: the novel, short fiction, nonfiction essay; poetry, memoir, mystery, comedy, news writing, travel writing, play writing, screenwriting and children’s literature. In addition to workshops led by experienced authors, the conference also provides panels where editors, publishers, agents and publicists provide guidance and answer questions from those in attendance. By keeping the registration to fifty, the three-day conference offers a unique intimacy between registrants and faculty members.

An important factor is that young and old writers alike are beginning to challenge and stretch the boundaries of the time-proven literary genres. For example, novels and short fiction alike have delved into areas not usually seen in American literature. While new genres come from those immigrants with recent immigrant experience who retell the American story in another time frame, it also involves the use of multiple codes of communication. Many emerging Latino writers, for example, use a combination of language codes (English/Spanish/Slang/Regional dialects, to convey deep emotion and unique historical experiences.

foto:NHCC. Denise Chávez workshop.

Much of what is written today, emerges in other formats of communication whether it is theatre, radio, movies, TV, social media , or verbal performance. For that reason we have instituted workshops at the conference on topics like “how to present (perform) your work.”As a result of attending the conference a number of writers have had their work published. Each year the works of two or three registrants get published. Writers have found agents and editors to work with. .In addition other sorts of unions have come about as a result of the networking that takes place. For example a former New York editor became a literary agent with a West Coast agency giving the agency a bi-coastal presence. There are many other success stories that emanate from the NLWC.

foto:NHCC. Luis Urrea wins NHCC Literary Award.

In addition to the workshops and panels, the NLWC has also established a literary prize that is awarded bi-annually. It recognizes Latino/Hispanic authors who have produced a significant body of work and whose writing method or topical choices have engendered the attention of younger writers and set a standard of quality worthy of emulation. In 2006 another prize became the purview of the NLWC. The Premio Aztlán, founded by noted Chicano writer Rudolfo Anaya and his wife Patricia in 1993 and for thirteen years was awarded by the University of New Mexico, has become an annual feature of the NLWC. The annual prize is awarded to an emerging Chicano/a writer who has published their first book and shows the promise to be a productive author.

In order to make the conference accessible to a wide range of Latino writers, the cost is nominal in comparison with other national conferences. The $300 registration covers all workshops and panels as well as meals and a formal awards banquet. During the three-day conference, several opportunities are provided for registrants to read from their work in open microphone sessions. This is one of the most attractive features for aspiring writers who often lead a solitary existence while crafting their own work. Also a great attraction is the guaranteed one-on-one interviews with an author, an editor and an agent during the course of the conference or especially on Saturday morning of the event.

foto:NHCC. Carlos Vásquez & Carlos Fuentes

Each year of the conference the organizers have incorporated many of the registrant’s suggestions captured through evaluations of the conference by those in attendance. This and the intimacy and sense of community that results have many returning to the conference two, three and even four times. Each year the breadth of registrations represents more states of the American union and often also registrants from Mexico and Canada as well. Each year we have added more workshops taught in Spanish by Latin American or Spanish (this year a Moroccan writer) for those who write in the Spanish language.

In order to make the conference experience accessible to college and university students, each year scholarships are awarded to students enrolled in writing courses or programs at one of New Mexico’s two or four-year institutions of higher learning. It is the goal of the organizers to be able to offer such scholarships to students nationwide.

The conference however, is open to all regardless of race, ethnicity or nationality.

Tanee Natividad16 years old girlShot and killedTucson, ArizonaNovember 18, 2001

Brisenia Flores9 year old girlShot and killedArivaca, ArizonaMay 30, 2009

Sergio Huereca15 year old boyShot and killedMexico-Texas BorderJune 6, 2010

Brenda Arenas15 year old girlShot and killedTucson, ArizonaAugust 5, 2009

Christina Green9 year old girlShot and killedTucson, ArizonaJanuary 8, 2011

Lovingly this poem is dedicated to these children; and to all children that find their end in front of a gun.

The Politics of Existence

Three Blind Mice, three blind miceSee how they run, see how they run

We have laid traps for youDo you know the grammar of being?We don’t want you!It is not just a question ofsyntax or meaningThe problem of existence isthe problem of citizenshipYou think it is a joke?

You have no papersNo number in the systemYou do not existYou are a non-beinganother, an otherverminYou see, the problem ofexistence is identity andyou have nonelegally speaking

You exist in a dream of yourselfin a country unto yourselfYou think you are alivebecause you are running, runningscared from the farmer’s wifewho cut off your tails with a carving knifeBut yet you comein a river of invisibilityin the blind faith of possibilityat daybreak, at midnightin the cold sweat of gunfireunder a deaf mute moonriding on the shadow of a coyoteat three o’clock, six o’clockbreaking the curfew of hoursslipping through the rules and cracksinto a desert with no water, no foodwith fingers, nose and face numbfrom stray bullets, asking“What day is it? What time is it?How do I reach the other side?”

You want the aroma of coffeethe sound of twittering birds anda nice warm fire to thaw your bonesbecause you know that life is a miraclenot a right and that sleep arises fromthe division of dawn and breathout of the death of previous daysinto the creation of new beingbut you are not allowed to breatheto be reborn or to give birth andthere will be no one to count yourdead once you are goneso you carry them on your shouldersall the ones who cried for helpthe ones with the crushed skullsmangled flesh and bullet holesthe Brisenia Floreses andtheir fathers or the five thousandnameless others in their unmarkedgraves and their unending funeralsbecause in spite of the wreathsthe pink and yellow roses andthe smell of deaththey did not existdid not figure in the syntaxor geometry of existencebut only in the mundaneprocession of days andalien life as pleasedby the Border GodsYou only hear the last wordsof Brisenia echoing in your ears“Please don’t shoot me!”

copyright 2011 by Genny Lim

DREAM ACT BICYCLE RIDE

This morning afterEast Los rains and thepurifying power ofwater flooding thestreets of Boyle Heightsand City Terracea group of biciclistasgather en el corazondel pueblo beforea 50 mile bike ridein support of aDream Act for kidsin the state that gaveus granola and tofu,an army of immigrantlove astride two wheelson the way to Santa Anato show how muchthe dream does matterThis morning aftera return from thefirst-ever Floricantoin Washington DCmaestros y maestrasand the power ofpoetry like seedserupting from earthThis morning aftermusic and celebrationat La Mina Circle withthe boys from Chambawho open their doorswith respect and graceThis morning whenthe California sunblesses my face andreminds me of myforever Valentinemy mother born onFebruary 14th underthe sign of Aquariuswho has my heartalways there on theother side of lifeThis morning whenI read of anotherpoet's passing likethe tide or a moonthat gravity recallsI sing an ode toMujeres de Maiz andthe brothers andsisters who pedalsouth for sueñosI give thanks forthis day and againfor all my relationsfor a songtress whoinvites me to readnear the ocean onthe west side of LAand the peace thatcomes from knowingthat I have been kissedon a bar stool by apre-school teacherwho then shakesmy hand and tells meI should be gladeach time I amembraced

abel salas

20 de febrero

When I'm Gone

Who will you hatewhen I'm gone?When your planis done,and this dreamof yoursbecomes mynightmare...will you hateyour eyesfor remindingyou of me,or that molethat contrastswith the perfectionyou seek,or your daughteror son whospeak in atongue thatresembles mine...who will you hatewhen there is noone to hate,this hate notfooled by "ignorance",because youhave always knownmy face...

By: Jesus Cortez

"San Rafael/Mexico City Blues Poem"

PrologueA superficial reading of one of these poems [in the book of lyrics by Kerouac] led me to believe he was referring to Burroughs -- the section where Kerouac is taking down the words of old junkie Bill Garver -- I think he calls him Bill Gaines -- "Boy if you only knew how good dem bacons and dem eggs is, you'd give up poetry boy and dig in,"etc. -- the theme carries through about five choruses [of the book].

O magic countless in time this morning,O risen sun late on the horizon,San Rafael, your office workerswith shiny hair and backpacksa tow in endless motion and still asleepon sleek commuter busesdo not notice the copy of Mexico City Bluesbeside my bag on the seat cushionnext to me.This workaday I will play tagwith Kerouac,and I am still in that reverieas the bus pulls intoa transfer stop.Now workers with grit-worn shirtsstanding in line at a deliquick stopsmile as they fillcups of coffee and pay.In the Canal the street are dimcandlelight from the onesholding prayer vigilsagainst the ICE raidsshines in sweet candescence.Earth kisses the sunthrough them.

S. M. T. HedgerSara was born and raised in the Arizona desert amongst the foothills of the Superstition Spring Mountains. It was a beautiful childhood full of vibrant sunsets and cactus bones. She became aware of social issues and inequalities at a very young age, and has always used poetry to mend. Her first published poem, “Why War?”, was written when she was in the 2nd grade and featured in her school newspaper. More recently her poetry has been seen on Immigrants2befree and on the Facebook page Poets Responding to SB1070. In January, Sara was invited to read “I Will Be Silent No More” on France Kassing’s radio show, on KDVS 90.3 FM broadcast from UC Davis, California. Her work will also appear in Blue Guitar Magazine this spring. She has written thousands of poems and is working on her first book. Her proudest achievement is her volunteer work to stop the deportation of American veterans. You can join her and learn more at www.valenzuelabothers.com. Currently she lives in Syracuse, NY as a student, wife and mother.

Genny LimShe is author of Paper Angels, which aired on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1985 and more recently, awarded Best Site Specific Performance at San Francisco Fringe Festival in 2010. She has two poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War and is co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island. Her solo performance, Where is Tibet? was featured in Women on the Way Festival in January 2011 and she has performed in live and recorded poetry/music collaborations with jazz masters, Max Roach, Herbie Lewis, Francis Wong, Jon Jang and John Santos.

Abel SalasAbel Salas is the publisher/editor at Brooklyn & Boyle, an Eastside arts, literature and community journal based in the historic Boyle Heights neighborhood. A poet and journalist, he also currently serves on the board at Corazón del Pueblo, an East Side community cultural arts center and collective. He has taught creative writing in LA County juvenile halls and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Artillery Magazine, New Angeles Monthly, Latina Magazine, The Austin Chronicle,The Brownsville Herald, and Zyzzyva, A Journal of West Coast Art & Architecture, among many others. Salas has been invited to share his poetry on stages in Havana, Toluca, Mexico D.F. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Los Angel[es]: El Lay and the chapbook Lone Oak in December/El Encino Invernal (1998) and the monograph Hija de Guadalupe/Child of Guadalupe (2007). A moderator with the Facebook commuyity Poets Responding to SB1070, he recently traveled to Washington DC to help coordinate a historic Floricanto on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Jesus CortezJesus Cortez is a 30 year-old poet from West Anaheim, California. His inspiration comes from his immigrant background, the street life, the pain of his people and the pain of all people. He knows that poems are like bullets against oppression, but that more action is needed if changes are to come.

Carl MackiCarl Macki is a writer, graphic artist & promoter living in Fairfax, California. A frequent contributor to social networks, he maintains his oldest blog at http://thizzled.blogspot.com.